By Katherine Fitzgerald
The Buffalo News
BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Bills’ athletic training and medical staff will be honored on a national stage once again.
The group will receive the Pat Tillman Award for Service at the 2023 ESPYS, ESPN’s annual awards show, on July 12.
The award is given to a person or group with “a strong connection to sports who has served others in a way that echoes the legacy of the former NFL player and U.S. Army Ranger, Pat Tillman.”
In a news release announcing the award, the Bills staff was recognized not only for their livesaving emergency response for safety Damar Hamlin, but also for “their commitment to every member of the team.”
Hamlin went into sudden cardiac arrest during Monday Night Football against the Cincinnati Bengals in January. He required CPR and the use of an AED on the field, before he was taken in an ambulance to University of Cincinnati Medical Center. UCMC doctors said in the following days that it was the immediate care from the Bills and Bengals staff that saved Hamlin.
[Rapid Response: Paramedics get ROSC as world watches NFL player’s on-field treatment]
The Pat Tillman Award for Service was established in 2014. Past recipients include Command Sergeant Major and Team UNBROKEN founder Gretchen Evans (2022), Canadian boxer and health care worker Kim Clavel (2020), and U.S. Paralympic gold medal sled hockey player and Purple Heart recipient Josh Sweeney (2014).
The ESPYS began in 1993, as a way to honor the most significant people, teams and moments in sports each year. The recipients of two other special accolades were announced Wednesday.
The U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team will receive the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage for their fight for equal pay, and Chicago White Sox pitcher and cancer survivor Liam Hendriks will receive the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance.
The ESPYS will air live at 8 p.m. July 12 on ABC.
The Bills staff has been honored a number of ways since Hamlin’s collapse on Jan. 2. The group was recognized on the field at Highmark Stadium the following Sunday, ahead of the Bills’ regular-season finale against the New England Patriots.
In February, medical personnel and athletic training staff from the Bills and Cincinnati Bengals, along with staff from University of Cincinnati Medical Center, took the stage at NFL Honors, to be recognized with Hamlin, who gave a speech. Members of the Bills’ staff have been keynote and graduation speakers since the event as well.
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